1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to novel processes for the preparation of paricalcitol to novel intermediates used in these processes, and to processes for preparation of the novel intermediates.
2. Background and Related Art
Paricalcitol (chemical name: 19-nor-1α,3β,25-trihydroxy-9,10-secoergosta-5(Z),7(Z),22(E)-triene; Synonyms: 19-nor-1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D2, Paracalcin) is a synthetic, biologically active vitamin D analog of calcitriol with modifications to the side chain (D2) and the A (19-nor) ring. Paricalcitol inhibits the secretion of parathyroids hormone (PTH) through binding to the vitamin D receptor (D. M. Robinson, L. J. Scott, Drugs, 2005, 65 (4), 559-576) and it is indicated for the prevention and treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Paricalcitol is marketed under the name Zemplar®, which is available as a sterile, clear, colorless, aqueous solution for intravenous injection (each mL contains 2 microgram (2 μg) or 5 μg paricalcitol as active ingredient) or as soft gelatin capsules for oral administration containing 1 μg, 2 μg or 4 μg paricalcitol.
The molecular formula of paricalcitol is C27H44O3 which corresponds to a molecular weight of 416.65. It is a white, crystalline powder and has the following structural formula:

Historically, nor-vitamin D compounds were described in 1990 as a new class of vitamin D analogs wherein the exocyclic methylene group C(19) in ring A has been removed and replaced by two hydrogen atoms (see e.g. WO 90/10620). So far, two different routes have been discovered for the synthesis of such 19-nor-vitamin analogs which specifically may be used for the preparation of paricalcitol.
The first synthesis of paricalcitol is disclosed in WO 90/10620 (additional patents from patent family: EP patent no. 0 387 077, U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,110, U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,975, U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,497, U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,294 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,113) and generally described in Drugs of the Future, 1998, 23, 602-606.
Example 3 of WO 90/10620 provides the preparation of 1α,25-dihydroxy-19-nor-vitamin D2 (Scheme 1) by using experimental conditions analogous to the preparation of 1α,25-dihydroxy-19-nor-vitamin D3. According to this description the starting material 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 is first converted to 1α,25-dihydroxy-3,5-cyclovitamin D2 (a2) using the procedures published by DeLuca et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,027 and Paaren et al. published in J. Org. Chem., 1980, 45, 3252. Acetylation of compound a2 followed by dihydroxylation of the exocyclic methylene group using osmium tetroxide in pyridine gives the 10,19-dihydroxy compound a4 which is converted with sodium metaperiodate (diol cleavage) to the 10-oxo-intermediate a5. Reduction of the 10-oxo group in a5 is carried out by treatment with sodium borohydride in a mixture of ethanol and water giving the corresponding 10-hydroxy derivative a6. Mesylation of the 10-hydroxy group in a6 (→a7) followed by reduction with lithium aluminium hydride in THF gives the 10-deoxy intermediate a8 wherein the 1-OAcyl group was simultaneously cleaved during the reduction step. Solvolysis (cycloreversion) of a8 by treatment with hot (55° C.) acetic acid results in the formation of two monoacetates (a9 and a10) which are separated and purified by using HPLC. Finally both monoacetates are saponified with aqueous potassium hydroxide in methanol yielding paricalcitol which is purified by HPLC.
The preparation of paricalcitol according to the method provided in WO 90/10620 has several drawbacks:                (1) the starting material 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 is one of the major metabolites of vitamin D2 and not readily available in larger amounts. Additional efforts have to be made in order to synthesize the starting material in sufficient amounts resulting in a protractive and unattractive total synthesis of paricalcitol. Examples for the preparation of 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 are described e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,721; WO 91/12240; Tetrahedron Letters, 1984, 25, 3347-3350; J. Org. Chem, 1984, 49, 2148-2151 and J. Org. Chem., 1986, 51, 1264-1269;        (2) the use of highly toxic osmium tetroxide which requires special precaution for its handling;        (3) use of HPLC for separation of isomers and purification of the final compound.        
As leached in WO 2007/011951 paricalcitol is difficult to purify by HPLC and as a preparative method HPLC is generally not applicable for use on industrial scale;                (4) the yields for the preparation of paricalcitol are not described in WO 90/10620. Generally, the provided yields for the preparation of the analogue compound 1α,25-dihydroxy-19-nor-vitamin D3 are very low especially for the corresponding steps 7 to 11 (yield starting from 1α,25-dihydroxy-10-oxo-3,5-cyclo-19-nor-vitamin D3 1-acetate which is the vitamin D3 analogue to a5 in Scheme 1: step 7: 63.4%, steps 8-10: 10.7%, step 11: 51.7%; overall yield starting with step 7: 3.5%).        

Another strategy for synthesizing 19-nor vitamin D compounds is disclosed in EP 0 516 410 (and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,731, U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,755, U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,636, U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,006, U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,932 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,759). The concept is based on condensing of a ring-A unit, as represented by structure b1 (Scheme 2), with a bicyclic ketone of the Windaus-Grundmann type, structure b2, to obtain 19-nor-vitamin D compound (b3).

Specific methods for synthesizing compounds of formula b1 are shown in Schemes 3, 4 and 5. According to Scheme 3, the route starts with the commercially available (1R, 3R, 4R, 5R) (−) quinic acid (b4). Esterification of b4 with methanol followed by protection of the 1- and 3-hydroxygroup using tert-butyldimethylsilyl chloride (TBDMSCl) gives compound b5. Reduction of the ethyl ester in b5 yields b6 which is subjected to a diol cleavage giving compound b7. The 4-hydroxy group is protected as trimethylsilylether resulting in the formation of b8 which is further converted in a Peterson reaction with ethyl(trimethylsilyl) acetate before being deprotected with dilute acetic acid in tetrahydrofurane (THF). The resulting compound b9 is treated with 1,1-thiocarbonyldiimidazole to obtain b10. Subsequent reaction with tributyltin hydride in the presence of a radical initiator (AIBN) gives b11. Compound b11 is then reduced with DIBAH to the allylalcohol b12 which is then reacted with NCS and dimethyl sulfide giving the allylchloride b13. Finally the ring A synthon b14 is prepared by treatment of the allychloride b13 with lithium diphenylphosphide followed by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide.
In an alternative method for synthesizing the ring A unit (Scheme 3), the intermediate b5 can be also subjected to radical deoxygenation using analogues conditions as previously described, resulting in the formation of b16. Reduction of the ester (→b17), followed by diol cleavage (→b18) and Peterson reaction gives intermediate b11 which can be further processed to b14 as outlined in Scheme 3.
Another modification for the preparation is shown in Scheme 5. As described, b7 can be also subjected to the radical deoxygenation yielding intermediate b18 which can be further processed to b14 as depicted in Schemes 3 and 4.



In EP 0 516 411 (and its counterpart, U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,191) is disclosed the preparation of intermediates useful for the synthesis of 19-nor vitamin D compounds (Scheme 6). The key step is the condensation of compounds c1 which can be prepared in an analogous manner as previously described for e.g. b14 (Scheme 3) with compounds c2, resulting in compounds of formula c3.

EP 0 516 411 discloses that Grignard coupling of hydroxy-protected 3-hydroxy-3-methylbutylmagnesium bromide with compound c5 (Scheme 7) can give hydroxy-protected 1α,25-dihydroxy-19-nor vitamin D3 or coupling of the corresponding 22-aldehyde c3 (X1=X2=TBDMS, R1=—CHO) with 2,3-dimethylbutyl phenylsulphone can give after desulfonylation, 1α-hydroxy-19-norvitamin d2 in hydroxy-protected form.

An additional method for preparation of 1α-hydroxy-19-nor-vitamin D compounds is provided in EP 0 582 481 (and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,196, U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,183, U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,745, U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,958, U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,744 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,536) (Scheme 8). Similar to the strategy as described above and shown in schemes 3 to 7, the basis for preparing 1α-hydroxy-19-nor-vitamin D compounds is an independent synthesis of ring A synthon and ring C/D synthon which are finally coupled resulting in vitamin analogs.
Thus the synthesis of 1α-hydroxy-19-nor-vitamin D compounds comprises the coupling of either the ketone dl with the acetylenic derivatives d2 or ketone d4 with acetylenic derivatives d3, yielding compounds of formula d5. Partial reduction of the triple bond giving d6 followed by reduction using low-valent titanium reducing agents results in the formation of 7,8-cis and 7,8-trans-double bond isomers (d7). Compounds of formula d7 can be also obtained directly from d5 by reaction of d5 with a metal hydride/titanium reducing agent. The isomeric mixture of compounds of formula d7 may be separated by chromatography to obtain separately the 7,8-trans-isomer. The 7,8-cis-isomer of structure d7 can be isomerized to yield the corresponding 7,8-trans-isomer. Finally any protecting groups, if present, can be then removed to obtain 1α-hydroxy-19-nor-vitamin D compounds.

The main disadvantage of the strategies as shown in Schemes 3 to 8 is the fact that ring A as well as ring C/D of the vitamin D derivative has to be separately synthesized before coupling them to compounds like 1α-hydroxy-nor-vitamin D or a protected precursor thereof. According to literature procedure, the ring fragment C/D can be prepared from vitamin D2 by ozonolysis (see e.g. J. C. Hanekamp et al., Tetrahedron, 1992, 48, 9283-9294) from which the ring A is cleaved (and disposed). This fragment has then to be separately synthesized e.g. by using other sources or starting materials like quinic acid in up to 10 steps or more. Therefore such strategies for the total synthesis of 1α-hydroxy-nor-vitamin D compounds become protractive and unattractive for large scale and according to the procedures provided in these patents, the final compounds are obtained only in amounts of <10 mg and in most cases even <1 mg.